The Drucker Difference features insights from scholars and business leaders based on Peter Drucker's leadership principles

Monday, October 05, 2009

The Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management announced today the release of "The Drucker Difference: What the World’s Greatest Management Thinker Means to Today’s Business Leaders," published by McGraw-Hill.

The book's release is part of the Drucker Centennial, which marks the 100th birthday of Peter Drucker, the father of modern management. The global celebration, which is being put on by the Drucker School and the Drucker Institute, will be crowned by a week of special events at Claremont Graduate University in November 2009.

“There are more than 1,000 business schools in America, but only one that is named for and anchored by the teachings of a great thinker, management guru, and social philosopher,” said Ira Jackson, Dean and Professor of Management at Claremont Graduate University. “This book, written by all of us on the Drucker School faculty, reflects our unique values-oriented approach to management as a liberal art, and conveys the essence of what we call The Drucker Difference.”

The book, which was co-authored by 16 Drucker faculty members, is the result of a spontaneous conversation that came out of a typical Drucker School faculty meeting in spring 2007, where a group of professors unanimously decided to develop a much-needed groundbreaking academic course together – one that builds upon and honors the intellectual foundations that Peter Drucker had laid out in his teachings – a truly transdisciplinary approach to management in the business world as we know it.

And so, an entirely new academic class titled the “Drucker Difference” was born —a 14-week course co-taught by Drucker faculty and visiting professors, who each teach one class per week based on Drucker’s philosophy and writings, extending these ideas through each professor’s own work. The course embodies Drucker’s living legacy, and The Drucker Difference book captures the essence of this course.

“This book is an excellent way to understand how Drucker’s ideas apply to today’s dilemmas,” wrote Charles Handy, author and philosopher, in the Foreword to the book. Handy sees Drucker’s philosophy as “deeply rooted in his humanistic theory of management – a view of organizations as if people mattered.”

Led by Drucker Professor Craig L. Pearce and his colleagues, Professor Joseph Maciariello and Drucker Associate Dean Hideki Yamawaki, the book’s 16 chapters are written from the perspective of each author’s teachings while holding true to the core foundation of Drucker’s wisdom. Each chapter covers an aspect of Drucker’s teachings – from Government, Business and Civil Society, to Economic Environment, Innovation and Industry Dynamics – reassessing and interpreting each through the lens of today’s ever-changing, turbulent business environment.

“By linking each professor’s work to the overall Drucker body of knowledge, each class builds upon and then extends this body of knowledge, thus creating a living Drucker philosophy,” said Professor Maciariello. “In the process, students are taught that individuals can develop both their character and their capacities as organizations to pursue their broader missions.”

The authors of this comprehensive work aspire to carry the Drucker message forward through their class lectures, writings, consulting and various civic engagements. Drucker’s perspective that people have value and the role of management is to provide a context in which people can flourish remains at the heart of the “Drucker Difference” academic course – which is now a graduate requirement for all MBA, EMBA and transdisciplinary students – and is also demonstrated in the living piece of work that is The Drucker Difference: What the World’s Greatest Management Thinker Means to Today’s Business Leaders.

"We are honored to be a part of the continuing Drucker legacy," says McGraw-Hill Vice President and Business Group Publisher Gary M. Krebs. "Drucker's teachings and wisdom have more relevance than ever in our current business climate. No doubt the course and the book will be staples that will educate and inspire for at least another century."

About the Contributors

Craig L. Pearce was a Professor of Management at The Drucker School of Management. His research on shared leadership has been featured in The Wall Street Journal. Pearce’s most recent book is Shared Leadership, and his forthcoming book is Share the Lead.

Joseph A. Maciariello is the Horton Professor of Management at The Drucker School of Management. He coauthored The Daily Drucker and The Effective Executive in Action with Peter F. Drucker and recently carried on Drucker’s legacy by revising two existing Drucker books: Management and Management Cases.

Hideki Yamawaki is Professor of Management and Associate Dean at The Drucker School of Management. His most recent book is Japanese Exports and Foreign Direct Investment: Imperfect Competition in International Markets.

Murat Binay holds a Ph.D. in finance and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. His areas of expertise include, institutional investing, initial public offerings, payout policy, performance evaluation, and corporate governance. He has taught courses on corporate finance, financial strategy, investments, financial institutions, and derivatives.

Jenny Darroch’s research and teaching focuses on marketing strategies that generate growth. She recently co-edited a special issue of the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science: A Tribute to Peter Drucker and is author of the forthcoming, Marketing Through Turbulent Times.

Cornelis A. “Kees” de Kluyver is the former dean and Masatoshi Ito Professor of Management at the Drucker School. His most recent books are A Primer of Corporate Governance and Strategy: A View from the Top, 3rd edition.

Richard Ellsworth’s teaching and research have focused on outstanding executive leadership. Before joining the Drucker School, he taught at Harvard Business School and held senior management positions with Kaiser Aetna. His publications include Leadership and the Quest for Integrity (with Joseph Badaracco) and Leading with Purpose. Ellsworth received his doctorate from Harvard University.

Jeremy Hunter teaches courses on managing oneself and transforming “the executive mind.” He holds degrees from Harvard University, Wittenberg University, and the University of Chicago.

Ira A. Jackson is the former dean of the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University, where he is also professor of management. He has extensive experience in business, government, civil society, and higher education.

Karen Linkletter is a lecturer in the American Studies Department of California State University, Fullerton. She and Professor Maciariello coauthored an article on Drucker ,“Genealogy of a Social Ethicist,” forthcoming in the Journal of Management History. She received her Ph.D. in history from Claremont Graduate University in 2004.

Jean Lipman-Blumen holds the Thornton F. Bradshaw Chair in Public Policy and serves as professor of organizational behavior at the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, Claremont Graduate University. She is director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Leadership at the Drucker Ito School.

Roberto Pedace is an associate professor in the economics department at Scripps College. Prior to this, he was an associate professor in the Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University. His research interests are in the area of labor economics and his work addresses a variety of important public policy issues.

Jay Prag has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Rochester. He teaches finance, economics, strategy, and leadership at the Drucker School and Harvey Mudd College. Jay has been voted Outstanding Teacher 15 times in his 23 years at the Claremont Colleges. He also teaches financial analysis at Southern California Edison.

Vijay Sathe is professor of management at the Drucker School. He is the author of five books, including Corporate Entrepreneurship, as well as numerous journal publications. He has taught in MBA and executive education programs around the world and has advised leaders in all sectors of society.

J. Scott Scherer graduated from the executive management program at the Drucker School and holds a degree in economics from Duke University. He is a principal at CoreWorks Consulting and serves as an executive coach. Scott received his training in integral coaching from New Ventures West in San Francisco.

Richard Smith is the Boyd Chair and professor of finance at University of California, Riverside. Before joining UCR, he was associate dean, professor of financial management, and served as director of the Venture Finance Institute at the Drucker School. He is the author of Entrepreneurial Finance and more than 35 journal articles.

Sarah Smith Orr teaches social sector leadership, governance, and resource development. She is executive director of the Kravis Leadership Institute, and the author of, Improving Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations, Women Directors in the Board Room: Adding Value, Making a Difference, and Boardroom Realities.

James Wallace has worked as an auditor in public accounting, as a division controller for a major health provider, and was a faculty member of the University of California, Irvine, prior to joining the faculty at Claremont Graduate University.

About Peter Drucker

Born in Vienna on November 19, 1909, Peter Drucker had a profound impact on how people around the world organize themselves in the realms of business, government and civil society.

Drucker’s 39 books, along with his countless scholarly and popular articles, predicted many of the major developments of the late 20th century, including privatization and decentralization; the rise of Japan to economic world power; the decisive importance of marketing and innovation; and the emergence of the information society with its necessity of lifelong learning. In 1959, Drucker coined the term “knowledge worker,” and he spent the rest of his life examining an age in which an unprecedented number of people use their brains more than their backs.

Drucker’s first major work, The End of Economic Man, was published in 1939. Driven by an insatiable curiosity about the world around him—and a deep desire to make that world a better place—Drucker continued to write long after most others would have put away their pens. The result was a ceaseless procession of landmarks and classics: Concept of the Corporation in 1946, The Practice of Management in 1954, The Effective Executive in 1967, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices in 1973, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 1985, Post-Capitalist Society in 1993, Management Challenges for the 21st Century in 1999.

Drucker, who had taught at Sarah Lawrence College, Bennington College, and New York University, spent the last 30-plus years of his career on the faculty at Claremont Graduate University. In 2001, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. He died in November 2005, just shy of his 96th birthday.

About The Drucker School of Management

The Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management is training the next generation of effective managers and ethical leaders for all sectors of society: private, public and philanthropic. Inspired by principles and practices advanced by Peter Drucker, the school approaches management as a liberal art and seeks to tackle some of the biggest questions challenging global society.

Part of the world-renowned Claremont Colleges and located in the foothills of the beautiful San Gabriel mountains 35 miles from downtown Los Angeles, the Drucker School is more than just a traditional “B” school; it is also an “M” (management) and an “L” (leadership) school.

With a strong commitment to research, values orientation, and an intimate graduate-only curriculum, the school was recently ranked fifth in the nation by Princeton Review in faculty quality. The Drucker School offers a variety of professional and doctoral degrees, including MBA, EMBA, MSFE (jointly with CGU’s School of Math), MA in Arts Management (jointly with CGU’s School of Arts and Humanities) and MA in Politics, Business, and Economics (jointly with CGU’s School of Politics and Economics).

Named for both a pioneering thinker (Peter Drucker) and an accomplished doer (Masatoshi Ito), the school produces graduates who have a strong sense of social responsibility and a deep desire to make a difference by doing well while also doing good. Learn more about the mission and Peter F. Drucker’s work, by visiting our Mission & Vision page or by visiting the Drucker Institute at www.thedruckerinstitute.com.